THE 26th ENGLISH SPEECH CONTEST
@ FUNAIRI HIGH SCHOOL
第 26 回舟入高校英語スピーチコンテストが、11月11日（土）に、本校国際コミュニケーションホールで開催
されました。
今年度の参加者は、中学生9名、本校生徒 16 名でした。それぞれの生徒は、自由にトピックを選び、英語でス
ピーチを行いました。世の中の問題に対する自分の考えを英語で訴えかけたスピーチや、今の自分の原点とな
った出来事や人物について紹介するスピーチなど、トピックは様々でした。話し方を工夫している生徒もいれば、
ジェスチャーや資料・写真1を用意して視覚的にも楽しめるよう思考を凝らした生徒もいるなど、中学生、高校生
ともに、準備や練習を重ねて本番を迎えたことが伝わってきました。オーディエンスを大いに沸かせ、引き込ま
れるような英語でのスピーチを披露してくれた発表者の皆さん、ありがとうございました。また、司会、受付を
快く引き受けてくれた生徒の皆さん、ありがとうございました。最後になりましたが、当日は多数の保護者の皆
様や先生方にご来場いただきまして、誠にありがとうございました。おかげさまで有意義なスピーチコンテスト
を開催することができました。
全出場者のすばらしいスピーチの中でも、入賞者4名のスピーチには、審査員も教職員も非常に感銘を受け
ました。1位を受賞した生徒は、「当たり前の日々がいかに幸せに満ちているか」についてスピーチを行いました。
受賞者のスピーチ原稿を掲載しておりますので、ぜひご覧になってください。
スピーチタイトル一覧と入賞者のスピーチ原稿を掲載していますので是非ご覧になってください。
TITLE OF SPEECH
Junior High School Senior High School
The Gift from Tezuka Osamu The splendor of color
Thanks to someone else
Let’s take action for the Earth!
Wonderful encounter
My discoveries in America
Fashion styles = History
Diversity United Being kind to others
To make our world a better place Enjoy sports!
Nuclear Weapons and Our Future
My Hobbies
Japanese people and English
The difference between Canada and Japan
My respect person
Social Contribution Break down stereotypes
What dance means to me Should we read books?
What’s stereotypes?
My problem that gives me triggers
About Sangetsuki
Our days are filled with happiness
The Life-Changing Choice
1st Prize
Our days are filled with happiness
Hello. I'm○○. Today I am going to talk about how our daily life is filled with happiness.
Firstly I want to introduce myself. When I was eight, I lost my father because of a traffic accident.
Then my life changed. I didn’t want to do anything and had no idea what to do.I was confused that I
can’t meet my father and talk with him forever. And also I was very sad that I needed to spend the
rest of my life without my father.
After the accident and while I was absent from school to attend a funeral , all of my classmates
gave me messages which encouraged me. Here is the one. There were a lot of messages which made
me positive and I was really encouraged by their messages so I gradually recovered. After a few
months later of the accident my friend took me to see a circus performance. I really enjoyed it because
it was my first time seeing a circus performance and we had a great time there. I really thank my
friend, not only the one who took me to see a circus performance but all of my friends because they
always cared for me a lot and encouraged me. Without them, I wouldn't be here now. Even though I
overcame such a hard time and became a high school student,I sometimes think when I pass by family
my inner voice says “Oh they have a father. If I had a father I could go shopping,watch a film,play
with him and so on” . Nevertheless with my friend's encouragement I might haven't already totally
overcome my father's death.
I thought of these experiences that our ordinary days aren’t ordinary and it's precious. We spend
our daily life thinking that it doesn’t differ from yesterday and we will say to my family such as “good
morning” and “See you later” or to your friends such as “Hi what’s up?” Once you’ve thought like this,
haven't you? But you’ll know that it's not an ordinary ritual for everyone. It’s precious to everyone and
sometimes it won't happen again like me. Of course we hope such a tragedy never happens to us. But
in our life it could happen. Now I spend time with my mother and sister everyday .I can’t talk to my
father but I can talk to my mother and sister. So I cherish them and I act not to regret that I should
have done that at that time or I shouldn’t have said that at that time. Following these thoughts I
spend my time with my family.
Finally I want to emphasize again that our daily life isn’t ordinary and we should act everyday not to
regret our actions.
Nothing is more important than family. Migel who appears in a Disney Pixar film “Coco” says so.
So don’t come down hard on your family and please cherish them.
Thank you.
2nd Prize
Being kind to others
Hi, I’m ○○, a first year student of Funairi high school. Today I would like to talk about this
one experience in a US school that is very important for me.
When I was 8 years old, I started to live in the US because of my father’s work. Before going to
the US, I was a bit worried but since I was too little to think about what was waiting there, I was not
thinking about it much. When I actually started to live in the US,I realized that the US is so much
different from Japan. The language,the food, the cultures, and a lot more. It was just different from
what I was used to. So I was scared, not knowing what to do. I went to the US school for the first time
in my life. After seeing my parents greet the teachers in English, which I didn’t understand at all, my
teacher showed me the way to the classroom. Everything in the school is so colorful, I thought. Then
the door appeared right in front of me. The teacher said something but I didn’t understand, so I don’t
know what she said. When I entered the classroom, everyone was curious about the new student that
came from Japan, me. Since I couldn’t speak English, my teacher introduced me. She used a
translator and told me about school things. I sat on the chair, feeling all scared and nervous. I was
not confident being in the classroom. But one day, this one girl talked to me, smiling. Her smile
relieved my tension. Her name was Ally. Even though I understood none of what she said, she would
always, always stand by me and smile at me. Her smile made me smile too. Soon we became friends,
no, actually, she became one of my best friends. We laughed a lot. She would use gestures to
communicate with me. Everyone in the class waved hands to me when they saw me. Everyone in the
class will give me a hand when I need help. And that really helped me. They tried to understand me,
and because of that, I started to feel like I wanted to be able to understand them too. How can I
understand them? The tools to understand them were English. So, I began to study English hard, do
my best on my homework, and Soon I started to be able to use English to communicate. And Soon I
got used to living in the US.
And I’m here now. What I wanted to tell everyone in this room is that kindness gives you a lot
of things . Like Courage to try moving on, Courage to start something new. A smile,confidence, and a
lot more. Kindness spreads kindness. Without Ally and my classmates, I wouldn’t be standing here
confidently now. I want to be like Ally, a person who can be kind to someone. A person who can help
others. Being kind is simple but being kind is hard. Especially when you’re the first to be kind to that
person. But remember; being kind won’t hurt anyone. Kindness makes everyone happy. So, how about
trying to be kind to others? I know everyone in this world can do it. Lastly, to Ally and my
classmates, I want to thank you guys in every way possible. I’ll always love you guys and will always
think about you guys. Thank you all for listening!
3rd Prize
My problem that gives me triggers
I am so bad at communicating. If I have known someone for a long time, I can talk naturally because I am
used to it. However, I still cannot make eye contact with anyone. Why did I enroll in FICC? There must
be several reasons.
The first is that I started attending an English language school in the fifth grade. I was not good at talking
to people since I went to a kindergarten, and of course I wasn’t good at it then either. On top of that, many
of the children around me had been exposed to English since they were 0 years old, which made it even
more difficult for me to speak anything. I myself don’t like English. It is not easy for me to speak, and I
hated it even more when it was English I couldn’t speak at all. However, the native English speaker didn’t
mind that I couldn’t speak anything, not even English, and could not have conversations with me, but she
spoke to me constantly. I was very happy and grateful for that. At first I couldn’t even say Yes or No, but
gradually I started to speak some words. That is the reason why I can now keep my motivation to study
English instead of taking it if I like it or not. Then, regardless of the language, my resistance to speaking
became weaker.
Second, I met a lot of wonderful people. I live in a small town with few people. So, after spending my
junior high school years there, I went to Funairi High School and met many more people that I had ever
met before. Since I was a junior high school student, I started to feel uncomfortable being in the classroom
and at school. It is still very hard for me to go to school every day. I know that everyone in my class is
funny and kind. However, I feel pain without knowing why. I can’t get used to being around so many
people.
I went to Korea the other day for the first time abroad. The language and culture are completely different,
but strangely enough, I was neither nervous nor anxious. Although I don’t always have the courage, I
want to be able to talk to people and I want to try something new, so I take part in this event. In Korea I
met people who tried hard to communicate with me even though we didn’t understand each other’s
languages, a warm host family who accepted me for a home stay, and friends who told me a lot about
Daegu. I had never had so much fun, felt so warm inside, and was so sad to say goodbye. While in Korea, I
was able to be my natural self and didn’t feel any hurdles in communication. I still have that feeling now,
and I have the motivation to study languages, the courage to try many things, and most of all, the desire to
talk to people from all over the world.
I also have many countries I would like to visit, and in the future I would like to dive into new places. So
now, although I feel pain every day, I want to worry a lot of time I fall behind and not give up. Above all, I
want to enjoy my life to the fullest and not regret my decision to enroll in the FICC!
Special Prize
Should we read books?
Do you all like to read?
At school, on TV, and at home, our parents and teachers tell us to "read books. In elementary and junior
high schools, there were probably schools that had the custom of reading books in the morning. But is
reading really that necessary?
First of all, reading gives us the opportunity to learn new things.
When I was in elementary school, I read a novel set in Kyoto. I liked the series of novels so much that I
actually visited Kyoto a year later, inspired by the scenery and architecture described in the books.
When I was in middle school, I read a book about religion, set in India. People who want to put their faith
in God, people who believe in God, and people who don't. Through these various characters and their
stories, it gave me an opportunity to think about what religion is and what it means to believe in God.
I could not have had these experiences without reading the books.
Second, reading books allows me to enjoy reading the written word, expanding the world in my mind, and
receiving it in my own way. Consider an example.
"There was a beautiful tree there." What do you think when you read this sentence? "Oh, there was a
beautiful tree," "Perhaps it was a metaphor for something," "A sawtooth oak, or perhaps a ginkgo tree." I
think each person thinks differently about things like this.
So what if this book is a book of stories about a world that has been devastated and no longer has plants
and trees? What if this book is a detective story and there is a dead body buried under this tree?
In this way, depending on what is written in the book, what you feel when you read the book will change,
won't it?
This is what we mean by reading the text, expanding the world in your mind, and receiving it in your own
way.
This kind of experience also improves your so-called "reading comprehension" and "sensitivity.
As you probably know by now, I believe that reading is necessary.
And these, as I explained earlier, are what I consider the appeal of reading: the ability to freely imagine
and learn about new values, ideas, and worlds in one's mind through the written word.
We live in a very convenient world now. Whenever there is something I want to know, I can easily find the
answer by searching on the Internet. No one takes the time to go to a bookstore or library to look for a book
with the answer every time they want to know something.
But it is precisely because we live in such a world that I want everyone to have the experience of being
moved by reading a book.
Because you can't understand this feeling until you actually pick up a book and read it.
To start reading, all you need is just one book and you, the reader.
Why don't you turn the time you spend looking at your smartphone or your normal little free time into time
to go to a bookstore and read a book?